All that remained was a double-digit halftime lead, more than enough for a dominating Northwood High boys basketball team that went on to an 82-66 win in the second round of the 2A state playoffs.

Northwood, champion of the CentralTar Heel Conference, improved to 23-2 and will meet West Caldwell in the sectional final Saturday. Salisbury’s season ended at 14-15, with questions lingering about the decisive second quarter.

“We had it to (six) and then we had two turnovers and two missed shots,”Hornets head coach Drew Mathews said. “That’s an eight-point swing in 35 seconds. They went on a run and we never recovered.”

The bigger, stronger Chargers romped to a 17-point lead in the first quarter before settling for a 21-10 advantage heading into the second.

That’s when Hornet junior Randall Jones caught fire.

Jones drained a 3-pointer, scored off a steal and hit two free throws to narrow the gap to 23-17. When Charger David Stephens fired up the crowd with a dunk, Jones calmly answered with another 3 to make it 26-20 with 5:30 to play.

Two minutes passed before either team scored again, but Northwood emerged from its funk faster than Salisbury. The Chargers ended the half on an 11-4 run, while the Hornets finished the quarter with five of their 13 first-half turnovers. After clawing back within six points, Salisbury headed to the locker room down 37-24.

“We had a little stretch there in the second quarter but we finished very strong,”Northwood head coach Jim Pappas said. “That was a pretty big point there. They were really getting things going and we just hung in there and weathered that storm.”

Pappas’ fantastic senior guard tandem of Doug Brooks and Tony Rogers opened the third quarter with scores to stretch the lead back to 17 points. Hornet seniors Thad Pryor andTerry Johnson combined for 11 points in the quarter to offset Northwood’s guards, but the difference showed in the low post.

Stephens, the Central Tar Heels’ Player of the Year this season, scored seven of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter. The junior finished with 11 rebounds and did anything he wanted in the paint.

“Number 52 is a man. We couldn’t keep him off the boards and once he got on the blocks we couldn’t stop him,”Mathews said. “He just whupped us on the boards all night long.”

Both squads made 25 field goals, but the Chargers led the rebound battle 43-31.

“We didn’t put a body on him (Stephens) and we didn’t box out and he got putbacks and rebounds that hurt us,”Jones said. “We made mistakes mentally and they capitalized.”

Jones enjoyed a big fourth quarter, scoring nine of his team-high 21 points, but Rogers took over for Brooks and Stephens as Northwood’s main threat and scored 13 in the final period.

Northwood’s lead grew into the 20s in the final quarter before one final Salisbury surge over the last three minutes narrowed the winning margin to 16 points.

“They thought they were going to blow us out but that didn’t happen,”Jones said. “We started playing like a team at the end and they didn’t pull away from us.”

But Northwood didn’t need to at the end of the game. That’s what that second-quarter run was for.

NOTES: TheChargers took advantage of their size, getting a lot of fouls on the inside. Northwood finished 25-of-32 from the free-throw line, while Salisbury hit an impressive 14-for-16. … Should the Chargers advance to the regionals, North Rowan could be a potential foe next week. … The Hornet careers of Pryor (15 points) Justin Johnson (10), Terry Johnson (6) and Michael Blount ended in the loss. Mathews’ team returns seven players for a promising 2000-01 season.

SALISBURY (66) — Jones 21, J. Johnson 10, Leonard 2, B. Blount 4, M. Blount, T. Johnson 6, Drye, Pryor 15, Daugherty, Blanton 4, Speigner 4.

NORTHWOOD (82) — Seymour, Swann, Scroggs 1, Brooks 22, Rogers 19, R. Alston 4, Smith, Phillips, Reaves, Massey 9, Rives 4, Valente, Stephens 23, S. Alston..

Salisbury 10 14 17 25 — 66